Despite being among the best in NBA history, both Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were arguably more obsessed with golf instead. The two became friends over the sport during their time in the league, and there were even rumors about ‘His Airness’ once bribing ‘the Chuckster’ with $20,000 diamond earrings during the 1993 NBA Finals.
Advertisement
Barkley recently broke down the $20,000 earring story to Travis Kelce, since the NFL star was curious about it himself. However, rather disappointingly, the story was completely disproven by the NBA legend.
Charles Barkley scoffs at stories of Michael Jordan working hard at golf
Ahead of the 1993 NBA Finals, there were rumors Michael Jordan was taking time out to train his golf skills. Given their friendship, Charles Barkley was asked what he thought of it at the time. As per the book ‘Sir Charles: Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley’, here is what he said on the matter.
“If he’s playing as hard as all these books say he’s playing, I must be the only one he’s better than.”
Barkley has never been afraid of saying what he thinks, whether it came to the basketball court, or anything outside it. In the quote, he is publicly roasting not only Jordan’s but also his own skill at the sport of golf. It takes a special kind of bold to do it so openly. However, this is hardly surprising for the former NBA man.
Charles Barkley isn’t exempt from being roasted himself. There was a time during which Charles had a ‘stop-start’ kind of swing, during which time, he received some not-so-kind words from Tiger Woods too.
However, Barkley did recently achieve something amazing in golf
Charles has been playing golf for approximately 40 years now. Given his prior struggles with his swing, the legend getting a single birdie seemed like a miracle enough.
However, ever since he finally got over his ‘yips’, Charles Barkley has been much improved in his outings in the sport. Recently, he even recorded back-to-back birdies, something he couldn’t help raving about, as you can read here. Here is what he said on the matter, as seen in the ‘Golf Channel’s YouTube clip.
“First time I’ve been birdie-birdie in my whole life, not just this tournament… I still got some work to do…but I’m playing great. Got 10 more holes to go and Imma play well all day”
Oftentimes, Charles Barkley can be on the pessimistic end of absolutely anything he talks about. The fact that he was so high on his expectations for the game instead, is a testament to how ecstatic he was feeling during the time of this interview.
